TORONTO – This is what’s known as pent-up demand.
TSN announced Thursday that its opening night NHL broadcast Wednesday featuring Ottawa @ Toronto (nationally, excluding Alberta) and Calgary @ Minnesota (regionally in Alberta), attracted a record national audience of 2.1 million viewers, making it the most watched NHL telecast ever on TSN and the third most watched program of all time on TSN.
The figures here are all from Nielsen Media Research, released by TSN.
The audience average more than doubles the previous NHL regular season record. The telecast peaked at 2.7 million viewers from 10:30 p.m. to 10:50 p.m. ET while the Senators and Leafs went into overtime and a shootout.
The second part of TSN’s opening night doubleheader, Phoenix @ Vancouver (nationally, excluding Alberta) and Colorado @ Edmonton (regionally in Alberta), attracted 1.3 million viewers, making it the third most watched NHL telecast ever on TSN and ranking 16th overall on TSN’s list of most watched programs of all time.
Nearly 6.4 million viewers tuned in to watch a portion of TSN’s NHL doubleheader broadcast Wednesday night, reinforcing the fact that Canadians love hockey.
Previously, the largest audience for an NHL telecast on TSN was Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on May 20, 2004 featuring Philadelphia vs. Tampa Bay, which attracted 1.4 million viewers. The previous high for an NHL regular season telecast on TSN was 980,000 viewers on November 28, 1993, featuring Toronto vs. Chicago.
